(Season 6)

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It had been awhile since Jared had seen his brother and he was feeling guilty about it. He felt guiltier after talking to his grandfather. His brother had signed up to go to Afghanistan and Jared hadn't known about it until he had gone to visit his grandfather. Sitting in the rec room talking to Pops, he had been stunned to learn that his brother was out of the country. He couldn't believe someone like Seeley would pause his career and go back to a war zone at his age. No matter how much the Army needed him, he knew that his brother was not the man he was when he was 22. There was a lot of water under that bridge and he would have thought a brain tumor would have kept the Army from recruiting him. "Damn it, Pops. This doesn't make any sense. He's 39 years old and he's not fit for war. He has bad feet even if he tries to pretend he doesn't. He had a tumor scooped out of his brain. What the hell was he thinking?" Furious, he stood up, shoved his balled fists in his pants pockets and stared at the glass door next to his grandfather's chair. "Does he have a death wish?"

"No, he doesn't have a death wish, Jared." Looking around, Hank noticed that he and his grandson were getting unwanted attention from the other occupants in the room. Standing, he grabbed his cane leaning against his chair and moved towards the glass door. "Come on, let's go for a walk. I could use some fresh air and a little privacy."

Following his grandfather, they walked out towards the large oak tree in the field behind the building and once they arrived, they sat down on the bench located near the base of the tree. "Pops, what's going on?"

"I don't really know, but I can guess." Hank placed his cane between his knees and leaned on it. "Temperance took a job in some island country and she's going to be gone for a year . . . I don't know if you know about it, but your brother asked her to start a relationship with him and she declined . . . He took it hard . . . I guess her leaving for a year shook him up further and . . . I don't know, you know your brother keeps a lot of things to himself. He said he was going to Afghanistan because he has nothing to keep him here. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wasn't interested in anything I had to say about it. The Army said they needed him and he went."

Not sure what to say about it, Jared leaned back against the bench and crossed his ankles. "I don't get those two. Temperance did everything she could to save Seeley when the Gravedigger kidnapped him including getting me to use my authority to steal a body . . . I don't regret what I did. I did it for Seeley, but . . . she loves him you know?"

"And he loves her, you don't have to tell me that." Hank never understood why his grandson and his partner fought so hard to keep their distance from each other. "I hope these trips those two are on will do them some good, but all we can do is watch. Neither one of them will take advice from anyone."

"I just hope Seeley survives. I don't want Parker to become an orphan." Jared sighed. "I don't have much family left and neither do you." Shaking his head, he reached out and placed his hand on his grandfather's shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere, Pops. You need anything you call me. I'll check in on Parker when I can, maybe call him since Rebecca doesn't like me. We Booth men need to stick together."

Glad that Jared was taking this seriously, Hank nodded his head. "Seeley will come back to us. I just hope his stint over there will be worth it to him."

Ooooooooooooo

Jared was relieved when his brother came back from Afghanistan unharmed. Booth had come back earlier than expected and his grandfather had called him to give him the good news. Jared was working at the moment and he knew he'd have to wait until he had some time off to go see his brother, but he would do that as soon as possible. He wanted to make sure that his brother had come back for good and wasn't planning on taking off again. His grandfather was getting old and he worried that his brother wouldn't be around if their grandfather became ill and died.

It took him over three weeks, but his responsibilities with work and Padme had delayed his visit. Arriving at Booth's apartment on a Saturday morning, Jared had knocked on the door and waited for his brother to come to the door. When the door was opened by a woman he didn't know, Jared wasn't sure he was at the right apartment. "My brother used to live here. I mean, I think he still does . . . Seeley Booth?"

"Yes, this is his place." Hannah stared at the handsome man and smiled. "You are?"

"Oh, I'm Jared Booth, Seeley's brother." Not sure why he was feeling uneasy, Jared shrugged his shoulders. "Is he in?"

Moving her hand out to shake his hand, Hannah thought she saw some family resemblance." I'm Hannah . . . I'm Seeley's girlfriend. He's not here right now, but you can come in and wait for him. He's gone to the store, so he'll probably be back in an hour or so."

Since he didn't have anywhere else to go, Jared nodded his head and stepped into the apartment. "Seeley's only been back three weeks. Where did you meet him?"

"We met in Afghanistan. When he came back, I followed him here." Hannah moved down the hallway into the living room. "We're living together."

"Living together? What about . . ." Jared snapped his lips together. He had no idea what was going on and he wasn't about to step into a pile of shit if he could help it.

Curious, Hannah sat down on the recliner and pointed at the couch. Once Jared was seated she turned face him. "What about what?"

Declining to explain, Jared shrugged his shoulders. "It just seems kind of fast to me. He usually moves slower when it comes to relationships. My brother is a cautious man. A very cautious man."

Since her boyfriend didn't seem that way at all to her, Hannah wondered if Jared really knew his brother. "We've known each other for a few months . . . He did mention you and his son Parker to me, so I know who you are. You have a grandfather and that's it as far as family is concerned, right?"

"Our parents are alive." Not sure why he was mentioning them, Jared rubbed his lower jaw. "Our grandfather took us from them when we were little kids . . . I don't know where they are and neither does Seeley, but they're alive as far as we know."

Surprised, Hannah leaned back against her chair and debated for a moment if she had a right to know what Jared was talking about. "Your grandfather took you away from your parents?"

"Yeah, well, from our father. Mom ran away when I was three years old. Dad used us as punching bags until I was four and my grandfather found out about it." Jared wasn't sure why he was talking about his parents with a stranger, but if this person really was living with his brother then she probably had a right to know. "We lived with Pops until we went to college."

Appalled, Hannah placed her hand against her throat. "You and Seeley were abused?"

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago and we don't have anything to do with our parents so don't mention them to Seeley. He doesn't like to talk about them."

"Of course not." Her boyfriend didn't seem to be anything but a fun loving man who appreciated the fun things in life, so obviously his childhood hadn't affected him that much. "Can I get you a drink while we wait for Seeley?"

Slowly nodding his head, Jared smiled. "Beer if you have it, Coke if you don't, or water. Oh, um . . . don't give me any of that Egyptian beer he keeps in the fridge. It's awful." He'd almost mentioned that the beer was Temperance's favorite, but decided to keep that piece of information to himself.

"We have beer, but there isn't any Egyptian beer in the refrigerator, at least not the last time I looked." After she returned with two bottles of beer, she sat down and handed one of the bottles to Jared. "Seeley never buys foreign beer as far as I know."

Shrugging his shoulders, Jared twisted off the cap and drank some of the beer. Resting the bottle on his knee, he looked around and didn't see anything new in the apartment. "You just moved in?"

"Yes." She looked around and chuckled. "I'm a reporter and I travel light. I didn't have much to move into the apartment . . . Seeley is a collector. He has some interesting things."

"He likes old stuff." Jared wasn't really into nostalgia, but he knew his brother loved old things. "He got some of this stuff from our grandfather when he downsized and moved into a retirement home. Seeley didn't want to throw Pops' stuff away if it was still good. He's sentimental like that."

A sound at the front door heralded the arrival of Booth, back early from the store. Entering the living room, Booth stopped when saw his brother. "Jared."

Standing, the younger man stood up and faced his brother. "Hey, I heard you were back and I thought I'd come for a visit. Hannah let me in to wait for you."

Surprised to see his brother, Booth smiled. "I got back three weeks ago. I was going to call you and let you know I was back, but I've been busy."

Grinning, Jared glanced at Hannah then back at his brother. "I can see that. Well, you don't have to call me. Here I am."

"Yes you are."

Ooooooooooooooo

That evening, after Jared had gone home and they were alone, Hannah waited until they were eating dinner before she mentioned something that had been on her mind. "Your brother says that your parents are alive. You never mentioned them, so I assumed they were dead . . . He said your grandfather took you both from your father and raised you."

Slowly placing his fork down on his plate, Booth turned to look at Hannah. "Yeah he did . . . What else did my brother tell you?"

She saw the intense way her boyfriend was looking at her and realized that she probably shouldn't have mentioned it. "That your mother ran away when Jared was three years old and that your father beat you." She couldn't help it. This was all new to her and the idea that Booth had been beaten as a child made her feel sorry for him and it also made her realize that she didn't really know a lot about him. "You don't have to talk about it . . ."

"Good, then let's not talk about it." Angry, but controlling his temper, Booth picked up his fork. "I don't want to talk about my past. It was a long time ago and it doesn't have anything to do with who I am now. I'm not a victim so, let's drop it . . . okay?"

"Alright." She knew that forcing the issue would cause her problems with her lover and it wasn't what she had planned for their evening. She appreciated that Booth lived in the present and not the past since that was how she lived. "Your brother seems like a nice guy."

Glad she had dropped the topic, Booth's anger evaporated. Twirling some pasta on his fork he decided that he shouldn't have got angry. After all, she was a reporter and reporters are nosy. "He is. He's not very serious about life, but he's working on it." Not willing to talk about Jared's issues, Booth lifted his fork and ate some of his pasta. After he swallowed some of his wine, he placed his glass down. "Did you have an interesting day?"

"I attended a press conference at the White house." Hannah sipped some of her wine and placed the glass down. "This might be an interesting job after all. I met with the Vice-President afterward with a few other reporters and he talked about something that the Pentagon is working on . . . It may not be as dull as I thought it would be. I have a meeting with Senator Brown tomorrow . . . He's hinting that Senator Jenkins may be censured next week. I may scoop everyone about this one."

Since Booth hated Senator Jenkins and considered him a waste of skin, he smiled and nodded his head. "Good, that bastard is no friend to veterans."

She knew that Booth considered Jenkins trash and found that interesting. Booth might work for the government, but he wasn't afraid to give his opinion. He definitely wasn't political which was refreshing.

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